Haunted House? Could It Be Toxic Mold?

Have you ever felt your house was haunted? Experience unusual anxiety or fear in a particular room of the house? Could it be toxic mold?

The connection between toxic mold and hauntings is the subject of study at Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York. Professor Shane Rogers is leading a team of researchers measuring air quality in environments reported to be haunted. According to Rogers,

I am a long-time fan of ghost stories and shows related to the investigation of hauntings, and have had some strange experiences of my own in the past. It has not escaped me that many of the places reported to be haunted and from my own experiences may be prime environments for mold or other indoor air quality issues. Experiences related in hauntings are strikingly similar to those related by individuals that have been exposed to toxic molds. Considering, it seemed that there may be a linkage worth exploring.

As one who has experienced the devastation of a toxic mold exposure, I can attest to the mood altering the impact of a toxic environment. (Read our story here.)

I remember walking into our Colorado home for the first time and feeling an immediate sense of darkness and dread. It felt evil. I wish I had listened to my gut and never returned.

Many visitors to Point Lookout Lighthouse as well as employees have reported paranormal phenomena such as “sour smells,” “chills,” “apparitions,” and “voices.” Are these paranormal or normal for individuals exposed to high levels of toxic mold?

My research suggests Rogers is right to study this connection. I received 31 responses to a recent survey titled “Toxic Mold Related to Hauntings.” The individuals responding to the survey had lived in a toxic mold environment.

Question #1: While living in your mold environment did you experience abnormal anxiety and/or fear?

I experienced both. After giving birth, I began having extreme panic attacks when I came home from the hospital. I thought appliances were possessed and going to blow up when I heard them running.

I would have heart palpitations, panic attacks and was afraid to be alone.

Our child had an irrational fear of thunder and/or storms: face went pale, visibly shaking, teeth chattering at the sound of the first thunder clap.

Yes. I was always anxious and paranoid. I would never want to answer the door.

I had nightmares something was coming over us. It’s where we found the mold.

After remediation had gone bad and levels were extremely high; I’d hear what I thought was music and experience hallucinations.

Panic attacks. Became suddenly terrified about the thought of being dead (not dying as such, but of ceasing to exist.)

Yes, I developed nightmares, night terrors, and panic attacks.

Question #2: Did you ever feel the environment was haunted? If so, please describe.

I was a child. It was a specific room and a specific wall. Turned out years later that there had been undetected water damage on that side of the wall.

I saw a black shadow person sit in our closet. In the middle of night, a different black shadow figure would be seen at the foot of bed. I would wake up feeling like someone was watching me. I heard people talking but saw no one in one part of the house (where the mold was later found inside the walls).

I heard doors and cupboards slam. Doors open by themselves, and I heard someone calling my name.

I thought my son was being possessed by spirit orbs and would take pictures of them surrounding his head. My daughter thought her bedroom was haunted and saw a ghost in there refusing to sleep in it anymore.

Yes, I knew the mold was making me sick, but then it felt like something with intent was operating on me – a disembodied force that was impacting me physically. It was very scary.

Yes. A swirling cone in the kitchen that spun downward.

Only briefly because my Dr told me told me to get out. He said the mold was acting as “hallucinating mushrooms.”

Not haunted but I felt I was being attacked by malicious government forces.

We had a lot of strange electrical issues. I remember a touch lamp that kept coming on by itself while we slept. I now know high levels of mold can cause electrical issues and static in the air.

Crazy enough I did. (And I don’t believe in that kind of thing.) I remember laying in bed being afraid to get up and go to the bathroom.

No, but I did have extreme feelings of “get out.”

It often felt dark and scary, as though there was an additional, evil presence there.

Yes, it felt haunted at times. There was one hallway in particular that caused considerable stress.

My mind and body felt like it was being held hostage to something and in that sense, I began to feel a ghostly presence to the experience, and the feeling that I was not alone.

Question #3: Did you experience violent nightmares while living in this environment?

More of death and destruction and fear.

Yes. All the time to where I would wake up so afraid to even fall back to sleep.

I had vivid recurrent nightmares about people trying to kill me.

Yes – felt like I was being suffocated.

I frequently dreamed of myself or my children being chased and violently, bloodily harmed.

Usually dreams where I can’t find things or my way, other insecure scenarios.

Yes, trapped nightmares. Stifled, Crushed.

Yes – like I was being destroyed and killed.

Lots of violent nightmares and rages. We heard voices saying we were going to die. Weird.

Nightmares about being chased and killed all the time.

Other interesting comments from the Toxic Mold Related to Hauntings survey:

Terror of death stopped as soon as I stopped being in the water damaged building.

The worst nightmares I had came when I was living in my friend’s basement in my early 20’s. I used to scream bloody murder and felt like I needed to run from the basement at night. They would frequently find me sleeping on their living room floor in the morning when they got up. This is obviously not normal for an otherwise socially, well-adjusted 20-some-year-old.

I remember when I went on vacation to visit a friend, I felt great but upon returning home, I went back to being depressed and sick all the time. I told my friend I felt like I was going crazy. I had very bizarre thoughts like voices were telling me to kill my family. I remember thoughts of “just break their neck” and “stab them”. I thought the devil was possibly possessing me. Other family members had violent outbursts and nightmares/night terrors on a regular basis. One person was a regular sleep walker too, and another banged their head into the wall all the time.

Have you heard of the short story The Yellow Wallpaper?

My daughter Kristen wrote this paper on the connection between the main character’s mood disorder and the possible toxicity lurking beneath the wallpaper.

The toxic air quality in a water damaged home does more than trigger auto-immune illness and respiratory problems. It impacts the brain. Often a mold-exposed individual feels crazy and isolated. I hope the Clarkson University study, as well as this post, help alleviate the despair that often accompanies this trauma.

Comments

This is extremely interesting to me. Growing up I frequently had visions of ghosts, nightmares, experienced feeling dark/negative energy, it was truly horrific. One room where all of my family members felt terrified had mushrooms growing out of the carpet. Now that I am older and know so much about mold (due to mold illness) I realize that the house I lived in from 0-18 was positively filled with mold….But, I think mold thrives where there is neglect and darkness/bad energy..so there are many reasons the two may go hand in hand…

I share the same experience as the others. The anxiety, panic attacks upon waking in the morning. It felt as though an iron claw pierced my solar plexus turn and pull. I sat straight up and couldn’t catch my breath. A strong sense of dread and intuitive knowing would wash over me. I would have to leave the house quickly – it usually happened at 4AM. I would lay still most of the day with the windows wide open in the middle of winter. I acquired odd habits. Coincidentally, my niece posted a pic of me during the darkest of times. I had lost over 50 pounds, my skin was grey, my hair was falling out and my gums bled. I kept being referred to psychiatrists who tried everything. swankyshe@hotmail.com
I’d love to help. No one believed me; my best friend said I had been down too long; she needed to move on. It seemed like it was never going to end. I moved into a brand new condo with wood floors and central air. Since my next step would have been in a nursing home; I decided to push to heal myself. I slept in a/c at 63 degrees and 24/7. I ate small amounts where in the house I had stopped eating all together. My 17 year old Jack Russell was with me; she was also sick. She slept with me and ate with me and we played soccer in the hallways at night. She had become blind, but once we were out of the house and away from the mold; I removed a sheet of green slime from her eyes and she was fine again. I moved out of the house (which I loved) in 12/09 I still suffer with symptoms; but never like in the house. Yes, at the end, I was convinced the house was haunted.

Hello, my name is Fred,
And I have been experiencing some really really scary stuff with what I believe may be toxic mold poisoning.
In short, I rented a room a couple of years ago and stayed there until last January. About 11 months in all.
I left back then because the place I was staying at, I came to find out was filled with Toxic mold thruout the house including my room. I mean it was so heavy that I could actually see them flying around the place. At some point I even had to wear a ‘mask’ to cover my mouth. It wasn’t enough because as I have come to find out, mold purposely goes in ‘every’ available hole in your body for what I believe is for the purpose of spawning.
And yes this Sounds crazy I know, I would have said the same thing myself had I not been presently experiencing some really weird stuff.
But since last January up to now, no matter what I do, I still don’t seem to be able to get rid of the either the ‘mold’ which seems to accompany me wherever I go, or it’s ‘smell’.. Which I seem to be very allergenically sensitive to. It is without question a living ‘hell’ that I’m presently going thru.
At this time I have good reason to believe that my mold situation, which I have never ever experienced in my life before, may very possibly be the work of some ‘evil spirits’.. I’ll tell you why.
I remember A couple of months ago while I was in a hotel room, and after having taking a shower, that while laying down watching television with all the lights on, that very shortly thereafter that I had not only begun to smell the mold around me, but that I had also begun to ‘experience’ the effects of it, having been thru it many times before.. It involves ‘feeling’ like something small is ‘crawling’ on you and also Like something is causing you to ‘itch.. Upon checking yourself very closely, if you have mold, you will ‘see’ something at the site of the irritance’ which resembles what appears to be one or more very small items that look very much like ‘ pepper’…
At first glance they seem to be ‘inanimate’, like as if they are just something that gets onto your body from your clothing or your underwear. Some part of the material..
But upon closer examination, I found that these things were not threads or other material from my clothing, but were in fact actually ‘mold’, which I have later come to find out, ‘stays’ in any clothes or shoes that you wear that have ever been ‘exposed’ to the mold..
Trying to get it ‘out’ of the effected items will very often prove useless. Once it attaches itself, mold is almost impossible to separate it from the item it attaches itself to. I learned this from several months of experience.
It is better to get rid of the item, burn it where possible, then to attempt to salvage it.
Anyway, while I was in the hotel room and begun to experience the effects of the mold as I stated, I swear to you, I ‘saw’ a creature move quickly thru my room which resembled a small ‘bird’, but this creature or apparition, whatever it was, was composed clearly of nothing but dark ‘black smoke’.. Like the kind that you see at a big fire..I swear it to you..
I saw it appear to ‘fly’ into the room’s AC. And then once again, very quickly fly into an area near or behind my bed..
That night I found it extremely difficult to get any sleep because the smell of mold had became so overwhelming..
It did not subside and I was not able to get any sleep until ‘Daylight’ had arrived..
I now know ‘also’, that mold as a bacteria is not only ‘alive’ and seeks to actively fnd a ‘host’ to wreak ‘havoc’ in, preferably a ‘human body’, but that the only time that it is inactive is in ‘sunlight’.. For whatever reason it appears that ‘mold’ does not like sunlight.
Almost as if it was a ‘Vampire’ of some sort. I swear I’m not lying to you or making this up. I have nothing to gain by it..
I now find it around my person everywhere I go..
The ‘smell’ of mold is often with me everyday despite my continuous ‘bathing’..
I actually can ‘feel’ them sometimes on my body which I attribute to wearing ‘any’ item of clothing which likely earlier at some point had been exposed to the mold.
Mold also has the unique ability to travel from one item of clothing to another very rapidly.. So even a ‘hat’, if it was exposed, will cause the mold from there to travel down your neck and into your clothes quicker than you would have thought possible. Also from the ‘socks’ up.
I have reason at this point to believe that it may have taken up residence within my body, because I cannot explain why it seems to be ‘everywhere’ that I seem to go.
And, like I said, I also believe that toxic mold, based on my ‘own’ experiences, could very well be the work of ‘evil spirits’.. Because it does ‘nothing’ but ‘devastate’ whatever it becomes a part of.
For some it could be a ‘slow’ death brought on by ‘respiratory’, ‘psychological’ or ‘neurological’ issues.
Even doctors are not fully aware of all the things that toxic mold can do to you over a period of time.
I heard somrwhere that people who have died and were sentenced to ‘hell’ for their earthly transgressions, can never by God’s law ‘walk’ the face of the earth again as a ‘human being’..
And this may sound crazy, But I believe that they can, and do come back, as ‘lower creatures’, including ‘Black Mold’..
It is a very evil thing and people should spend more time researching it.. Because we simply do not know enough about it drspite it’s obvious danger.
I’m actually experiencing these effects right ‘now’ as I’m writing this to you.
I believe that I may need very soon to consult a ‘spiritualist’ who may know of these things and how to get rid of it As nothing else at this point seems to work..
In closing, please share my experience with others so that they may be aware of what toxic mold can do, and where it could quite conceivably come from..
I of course welcome any suggestions which could possibly help me in this matter.
Thank you..

Thanks for sharing your experience, Fred. I don’t think we’ve begun to realize the deep impact of a toxic mold exposure. Have you looked into either of the brain retraining programs for environmental hits? They are mentioned here: http://it-takes-time.com/2015/08/25/toxic-mold-treatment/

Hello, my name is Fred,
And I have been experiencing some really really scary stuff with what I believe may be toxic mold poisoning.
In short, I rented a room a couple of years ago and stayed there until last January. About 11 months in all.
I left back then because the place I was staying at, I came to find out was filled with Toxic mold thruout the house including my room. I mean it was so heavy that I could actually see them flying around the place. At some point I even had to wear a ‘mask’ to cover my mouth. It wasn’t enough because as I have come to find out, mold purposely goes in ‘every’ available hole in your body for what I believe is for the purpose of spawning.
And yes this Sounds crazy I know, I would have said the same thing myself had I not been presently experiencing some really weird stuff.
But since last January up to now, no matter what I do, I still don’t seem to be able to get rid of the either the ‘mold’ which seems to accompany me wherever I go, or it’s ‘smell’.. Which I seem to be very allergenically sensitive to. It is without question a living ‘hell’ that I’m presently going thru.
At this time I have good reason to believe that my mold situation, which I have never ever experienced in my life before, may very possibly be the work of some ‘evil spirits’.. I’ll tell you why.
I remember A couple of months ago while I was in a hotel room, and after having taking a shower, that while laying down watching television with all the lights on, that very shortly thereafter that I had not only begun to smell the mold around me, but that I had also begun to ‘experience’ the effects of it, having been thru it many times before.. It involves ‘feeling’ like something small is ‘crawling’ on you and also Like something is causing you to ‘itch.. Upon checking yourself very closely, if you have mold, you will ‘see’ something at the site of the irritance’ which resembles what appears to be one or more very small items that look very much like ‘ pepper’…
At first glance they seem to be ‘inanimate’, like as if they are just something that gets onto your body from your clothing or your underwear. Some part of the material..
But upon closer examination, I found that these things were not threads or other material from my clothing, but were in fact actually ‘mold’, which I have later come to find out, ‘stays’ in any clothes or shoes that you wear that have ever been ‘exposed’ to the mold..
Trying to get it ‘out’ of the effected items will very often prove useless. Once it attaches itself, mold is almost impossible to separate it from the item it attaches itself to. I learned this from several months of experience.
It is better to get rid of the item, burn it where possible, then to attempt to salvage it.
Anyway, while I was in the hotel room and begun to experience the effects of the mold as I stated, I swear to you, I ‘saw’ a creature move quickly thru my room which resembled a small ‘bird’, but this creature or apparition, whatever it was, was composed clearly of nothing but dark ‘black smoke’.. Like the kind that you see at a big fire..I swear it to you..
I saw it appear to ‘fly’ into the room’s AC. And then once again, very quickly fly into an area near or behind my bed..
That night I found it extremely difficult to get any sleep because the smell of mold had became so overwhelming..
It did not subside and I was not able to get any sleep until ‘Daylight’ had arrived..
I now know ‘also’, that mold as a bacteria is not only ‘alive’ and seeks to actively fnd a ‘host’ to wreak ‘havoc’ in, preferably a ‘human body’, but that the only time that it is inactive is in ‘sunlight’.. For whatever reason it appears that ‘mold’ does not like sunlight.
Almost as if it was a ‘Vampire’ of some sort. I swear I’m not lying to you or making this up. I have nothing to gain by it..
I now find it around my person everywhere I go..
The ‘smell’ of mold is often with me everyday despite my continuous ‘bathing’..
I actually can ‘feel’ them sometimes on my body which I attribute to wearing ‘any’ item of clothing which likely earlier at some point had been exposed to the mold.
Mold also has the unique ability to travel from one item of clothing to another very rapidly.. So even a ‘hat’, if it was exposed, will cause the mold from there to travel down your neck and into your clothes quicker than you would have thought possible. Also from the ‘socks’ up.
I have reason at this point to believe that it may have taken up residence within my body, because I cannot explain why it seems to be ‘everywhere’ that I seem to go.
And, like I said, I also believe that toxic mold, based on my ‘own’ experiences, could very well be the work of ‘evil spirits’.. Because it does ‘nothing’ but ‘devastate’ whatever it becomes a part of.
For some it could be a ‘slow’ death brought on by ‘respiratory’, ‘psychological’ or ‘neurological’ issues.
Even doctors are not fully aware of all the things that toxic mold can do to you over a period of time.
I heard somrwhere that people who have died and were sentenced to ‘hell’ for their earthly transgressions, can never by God’s law ‘walk’ the face of the earth again as a ‘human being’..
And this may sound crazy, But I believe that they can, and do come back, as ‘lower creatures’, including ‘Black Mold’..
It is a very evil thing and people should spend more time researching it.. Because we simply do not know enough about it drspite it’s obvious danger.
I’m actually experiencing these effects right ‘now’ as I’m writing this to you.
I believe that I may need very soon to consult a ‘spiritualist’ who may know of these things and how to get rid of it As nothing else at this point seems to work..
In closing, please share my experience with others so that they may be aware of what toxic mold can do, and where it could quite conceivably come from..
I of course welcome any suggestions which could possibly help me in this matter.
Thank you..

Thanks Andrea,
I will look into this immediately.
If it will help, then I’m for it.
I’ll keep you posted.

In the Bible, mold is a sign of a place or thing being “unclean”.
There are ceremonial laws in the Old Testament that write about them.

When a land is defiled (unclean), lots of bad things happen, the causes are spiritual in nature.

In my own personal observations and experiences, mold and bad spiritual energy go hand in hand.
I don’t know which one comes first though. The mold attracts spirits, or because there are spirits therefore mold have a tendency to grow. That is the subject of my inquisition.

The other topic of study and research into witchcraft practices, draw correlation between the use of hallucinogenic drugs and mediumship. Witch doctors and spiritualist and witches when they practice certain spiritual practices, including the invitation of spirits, include (but not exclusively) the use of hallucinogenic drugs. The word “rootwork” comes from the use of roots and herbs.

They enter into brain states (Theta, Beta brain waves). Usually meditation practices allows the practitioner to enter into these brain states, but it is scientifically known that drugs also alter brain states.

This is another observation in my study. Is there a correlation between the 2? I have not yet drawn a conclusion, but it is a subject of research and study. Demonic possession and oppression generally works on people who are weak willed. Mentally strong people are generally less likely to be spiritually attacked. Usually long periods of grief opens the weakened state to further spiritual attacks. Fear, jealousy, depression, etc, emotional states (prolonged altered emotional state) do also alter a person’s thinking habits, and cause a negative spiral. Obsessions are also a doorway to negative spirits entering.

These are observations that I have made and are possible topics of discussion.

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MEET ANDREA

I am a certified Building Biology Advocate, a former journalist, mother of nine, and avid CrossFitter who likes to think outside the box. After our family's health crisis in 2008, I learned to ask questions about what's in our food, our water, and our air. I hope to empower you as you seek to live safely in a complex world. Thankfully, small steps lead to big changes. Let's travel this road together, one step at a time.

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10 Things I’ve Learned (The Hard Way)

1. The answer may be right in front of you.
2. Time is often the best medicine.
3. Speak kindly to yourself.
4. The air we breathe matters.
5. It's better to know than not know.
6. Relinquishment is a balm for the soul.
7. Symptoms will instruct if we listen.
8. Sometimes you're the expert.
9. Allow hindsight to move you forward.
10. The next step is enough.